The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom

by Denise Krebs, Gallit Zvi

Promote your students’ creativity and get them excited about learning! In the second edition of this popular, practical book, authors Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi show you how to implement Genius Hour, a time when students can develop their own inquiry-based projects around their passions and take ownership of their work. Brought to you by MiddleWeb and Routledge Eye On Education, the book takes you step-by-step through planning and teaching Genius Hour. You’ll learn how to guide your students as ● inspire learning and brainstorm wonders; ● develop inquiry questions based on their interests; ● conduct research and experiments about their topic of choice; ● create presentations to teach their fellow students in creative ways; and ● present their finished product for a final assessment. This edition includes new chapters on managing your classroom projects and recommended books. Throughout the book you will find voices from the Genius Hour community sharing real-life stories and inspiration. Appendices contain handy FAQs and ready-made lessons and resources. In addition, a companion website, www.geniushourguide.org, offers bonus materials and regular updates to support you as you implement Genius Hour in your own classroom.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Nonfiction, Professional Development

186 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 2015

Reviews

[Lisa]

Good points-the authors make a good case for implementing genius hour, are somewhat inspiring, offer some solid suggestions for supplementary materials such as videos and picture books

Less stellar - no really solid ideas for structuring and implementing genius hour other than a short appendix with rubrics and such. Quite repetitive. Uninspiring photographs and visuals.

In short - good starting point if you want to know what genius hour is all about. Good Common Core alignment graphs to support implementation if your admin is hesitant. Definitely for the very new to the idea.

[Heather Sobek]

Easy to read, great resource on setting up a genius hour in your own classroom!

[Zeenar]

Excellent thought! Students spent dedicated time on tapping their curiosity, passion, interests and discover/inquire about something that they are curious about. Very good ideas on how to kick-start the process of developing the inquiry questions in the classroom and how to help those who could not think of an idea for his/her own inquiry. However, i would like to read cases of practical experiences specifically concrete challenges that a person faces while applying this strategy within the school or a classroom and how to address little challenges.

[Meg Griffin]

Good overview of how to set up Genius Hour

[Beth]

So many great ideas! So much practical information! I can't wait to start!!

[Michelle]

Very helpful.

[Heather]

Read because we are doing this for a class this year!!
As in the class started 2 weeks ago. And yes we got the book after week one. Good teacher times.

I love the idea. We don’t get enough student driven learning, creativity or individual development in public schools.
Also scared snot less because this will be a large turn of thinking for sixth graders. I’ve already seen evidence in my science class where they sit and wait for the knowledge to just flow into them. Please don’t make me think. Math as well… how do I do this? What am I supposed to do? Ummmmm. Solve the problem you just read; what’s your approach?
So, totally looking forward to this experiment with my 6th hr GRIT class and some genius hr learning.

Hoping to spin some of these clever ideas into the student leadership group I also have connections to.

pS. Probably should check Second Edition , that was purchased for the other GRIT teacher. May have more of an update for tech use.

[Patrick]

This is a really great book to get you started on Genius Hour. I truly appreciate the perspective and experience that the book represents. The resource suggestions alone are worth the price of the book. I only wish there was more...towards the end, the book becomes more about cheerleading with less substance.

[Matt]

I've read both editions, and if you have read the first one, get the second. There are updated content and links, plus more current thinking on this important topic of student empowerment and inquiry. I have implemented Genius Hour with my own kids at home; it is an excellent approach for any teacher, and the authors are excellent guides.

[Laura]

Helpful, step-by-step guide to implementing Genius Hour in the classroom. Even though we've been dabbling in it for a few years, there were many helpful nuggets in here such as lists of resources, templates, and links to helpful information.

[Alana "Loni"]

I wanted a little bit more concrete ideas and less tweeting about how much people love Genius Hour, but it gives me a lot of ideas on how to start my own, and a lot of quick links for resources.

[Cheryl Smith]

I really loved this book. I'm working on ways to incorporate this into my Engineering Design class.

[Bridget]

This book gave some good basics, but it lacked some of the clear steps and directions for getting started and maintaining it. The resources it does provide are great. I just wanted more.